The Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) released a report on September 10 stating that Israeli forces have detained more than 2,000 Palestinian children since October 2023. At least 350 children are currently being held in Israeli prisons under "harsh conditions," according to the report.
According to the PPS, Israeli authorities continue to intensify their targeting of Palestinian children. A day earlier, Israeli forces arrested at least six children in Hebron, in the occupied West Bank.
The organization said it has not yet been able to determine the number of children detained in Gaza, amid thousands of missing people in the besieged enclave — including children — along with a long-standing policy of forced disappearance.
According to the PPS, Israel's practice of holding detainees without charge or a release date is "an additional violation and crime, leaving children facing the unknown while depriving them of stability in their family lives and education."
Cases of Palestinian children in prison
The report describes Israeli measures that begin with "threats and arrest" and extend to "torture, starvation and denial of medical care."
The PPS cited the case of Mohammed Hamid, 15, who contracted scabies — a contagious skin parasite infection — while detained at Ofer Prison, where human rights groups have long documented abuses. He developed a severe infection, required heart surgery and was placed in intensive care in critical condition, and later had a leg amputated.
The organization also mentioned the case of Walid Ahmed, 17, who died in March 2025 after six months of detention at Megiddo Prison. In December of the same year, an Israeli judge suspended the investigation into his death, ruling that although there was evidence of starvation, a clear cause of death had not been established.
American children in Israeli prisons
Ahmed was held at Megiddo along with his friend Mohammed Ibrahim, a teenager from the US state of Florida. Ibrahim was released after months of advocacy by organizations in the United States and calls from senior lawmakers.
Mohammed Ibrahim is not the only American child held in an Israeli prison without charge. According to the report, Israeli forces are said to have seized Abdalkareem Issa Ahmed Safi from his home in the West Bank during a night raid in June. He turned 18 while in detention, after which authorities transferred him from the juvenile detention section to the adult section at Ofer Prison.
Similarly, Israeli forces arrested Adam Wajeh Abdelfattah Karakrah, 16, also a US citizen, in July. Although he was expected to be released in August after his family posted bail, Israeli authorities abruptly reversed the decision.
The Palestinian Prisoners' Society called for "genuine international action" to secure the release of arbitrarily detained children, launch investigations and end torture, starvation and the denial of treatment in Israeli prisons.
According to the PPS, Israeli forces have detained more than 25,000 Palestinians in the West Bank and thousands more in Gaza since Israel's war began in October 2023.
